He leads the Elon University men’s basketball team in scoring (14.6 points per game), rebounds (5.8 per game), steals (13 through eight games) and has been responsible for swatting 20 of the Phoenix’s 35 blocked shots.

But perhaps even more telling about the power forward’s continued development down low and Elon’s increasing faith in his ability was the way in which Saturday night’s oh-so-close loss played out against College of Charleston.

Elon worked its offense through Troutman in the post during crunch time, entrusting him with critical possessions and wiped out what had been a nine-point deficit with 6½ minutes remaining.

“When you have the coaches standing behind you, when you’ve got the players standing behind you, you keep going and keep attacking,” he said. “They kept throwing it in to me. That gives me confidence, knowing that they believe in me. I need to back them up for believing in me.”

The 6-foot-10 junior did, despite what had been a 3-for-11 shooting night from the field until the last five minutes.

He closed by hitting three of his final four shots, scoring on moves that included a jump hook and a spin in the lane with the shot clock close to expiring, to finish with 12 points.

Maybe the most memorable moment of Elon’s go-to-Troutman mode came when one side of the court was cleared so he could operate 1-on-1 against College of Charleston’s 6-9 Adjehi Baru, who’s an intimidating presence underneath.

It looked something like a half-court set in the NBA, with Troutman going retro — think Charles Barkley from the late 1980s or early 1990s — and backing down Baru one banging dribble after another before spinning toward the hoop for a bucket.

“We wanted to get Luke involved and he brought us back,” Elon guard Austin Hamilton said.

Troutman has proven productive on the interior since he arrived at Elon in 2010 as part of coach Matt Matheny’s first full recruiting class. He supplied 12.8 points and 5.5 rebounds per game last season while sinking 52.3 percent of his shots from the field.

Matheny said Troutman has taken the next step in listening and understanding, qualities that have facilitated the process of becoming a more experienced player.

“Now he’s competing more intelligently,” Matheny said. “He’s really always been coachable, but boy, he’s trying to do what we’re asking him to do.

“He wants to really be good. And he’s turned a corner in that regard. He’s always wanted to be good, but now he knows what it takes and he’s trying to do it.”

In Dartmouth tonight,Elon faces an opponent it struggled mightily against last season. The Phoenix shot 29.1 percent from the field — that ended up as a season worst — and lost 62-54 in mid-December at Hanover, N.H.

Page 2 of 2 - Hamilton said it was “by far” one of Elon’s lousiest performances from last season.